Today’s message was “When Grief Overwhelms Us” from chapter 3
Despite the cause of my grief (is it my sin or because I live in a sinful world?), God is with me in the fires of the furnace of my affliction. God isn’t absent, adversity (like the flash bulb of a camera) has blinded me to his presence. The writer of Lamentations (Jeremiah) was emotionally bruised, bitter, broken, buried in affliction (for the sin of a nation).
Verses 19-24 “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I remember them well, and my soul is downcast {it sinks} within me. YET THIS I CALL TO MIND AND THERFORE I HAVE HOPE: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’” Wait quietly for the Lord (not with the noise of complaint or emotion.)
On what do I focus? Loss, grief, injustice? Those only deepen my grief. Will I choose to focus on the pain or the one who loves me in my pain?
Verse 40: “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
“Affliction is God’s sheep dog to drive us back to the fold.”
“God’s mercy rides to our door on the black horse of affliction.”
Verse 57: “You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘do not fear.’”
In our times of affliction, God draws near for the soul who seeks him; hoping and waiting quietly, submitting to him.
